Dutchman builds replica Noah's Ark after flood dream

Johan's ark – Johan Huibers, a wealthy Dutch Christian, has built a full-scale replica of Noah's ark according to the measurements given in the Bible.

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Johan's ark – The Bible gives the ark's dimensions using the ancient measurement of the cubit -- the length of a man's arm from the elbow to the fingertips. The arks, both biblical and contemporary, are 300 cubits, or about 137 meters, long and 30 cubits, or about 14 meters, high.

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Johan's ark – Huibers has filled his ark, intended to act as a biblical museum to inspire people with the story of Noah and the flood, with a menagerie of plastic animals, and an aviary of real birds.

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Johan's ark – The Bible describes Noah's boat as made of "gopher wood," but experts disagree as to what this is. Huibers' ark is built from the metal hulls of 25 old barges welded to a single frame, and covered in Scandinavian pine.

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Johan's ark – Huibers has filled his boat with life-sized plastic animals to give visitors more to engage with.

Johan's ark – This is not Huibers' first ark. He finished construction of a half-scale version in 2004, following a dream 12 years earlier about a flood sweeping the Netherlands.

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Story highlights

A Dutch businessman has built a replica of the Biblical Noah's Ark

It is built to the proportions specified in the Bible, and filled with plastic animals

The man built the ark after a nightmare that the Netherlands was flooded

He hopes it will help spread the message of the Bible

A Dutchman has built a replica of Noah's Ark to biblical proportions, following a dream his homeland would be flooded.

Johan Huibers, a wealthy businessman, used the ancient measurement of the cubit -- the length of a man's arm from elbow to fingertips -- to build the vessel to the dimensions specified in the book of Genesis.

The finished craft -- which has just been opened to the public on the Merwede River in the Dutch town of Dordrecht -- is 300 cubits long (about 450 feet or 137 meters), 50 cubits wide (about 70 feet or 21 meters), and 30 cubits high (about 45 feet or 14 meters).

"The next day I bought a book about Noah's Ark. That night while sitting on the couch with my kids, I looked at it and said: 'It's what we're going to do,'" he told AFP. "I have always been a dreamer."

He resolved to build the ark, to inspire children with the biblical story of how Noah and the inhabitants of his Ark survived the flood that, according to Old Testament, washed the world clean of sin.

Despite his best efforts, it was impossible to adhere entirely to the biblical description of the Ark. Genesis describes Noah's boat as made of "gopher wood," but experts disagree over what this is.

Instead, Huibers and his team built the boat by welding together the metal hulls of 25 barges into a single frame, which was then covered with Scandinavian pine. Weighing about 3,000 tons, the boat contains sleeping quarters, a theater, restaurant and conference facilities to seat 1,500 people.

Huibers initially wanted to sail his ark to London for the Olympics to share his message with sports fans. But he was forced to abandon his plan to sail across the North Sea after authorities raised safety issues.